❋ #4 ❋ ~ Winter Newsletter

Allotment Beginnings, Queer Mycology Forays, Art Residency Reflections and Herbology musings

Jan 29, 2025

Article voiceover

1×

0:00

-9:01

January’s first days were snowy, with the crescent moon and Venus bright in the sky, the aurora shimmering even in the city— what a magical start to the Gregorian new year. Sunlight is a holy thing this season, it touches something inside me that only winter sun seems to be able to reach, something alike deep gratitude and awareness towards the passing of time.

The last months of 2024 passed quickly and saw many days of yet another flu, yet another ailment, along with the grief of losing a community space and a brief and deeply heartbreaking encounter with a past life. It saw tears, sleepless nights and a sense of deep love for that which has grown and thrives around me in all its messy stages of being. It also saw some wonderful forays, community meet ups, my first artist residency, birthdays, dinners, a return to botanical illustration and quiet moments amongst the late autumn beech trees.

I’ve been writing but wasn’t able to return to this ~~news~~letter for a while, at least not while it all simmered and brewed inside me. I spent Christmas feverish and feeling ever so wrong but in my dazed sleeps and naps switching between sofa and bed, I processed, I rested. Hello! I hope you are well internet friends!

a picture of witch hazel in bloom, a picture of me smiling on Arthurs seat, a cute bird in the sunshine, a ruin, a woven belt, an alder tree in winter, some first snowdrops, a little mouse plagues by concepts and my secateurs — ꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜

My mind is often loud and fast, so slow walks in the frozen landscape are much needed. The snow has melted by now and a storm with very high winds passed through Edinburgh recently. I’ve been spotting snowdrops, their little white flower heads bopping in the wind, only opening ever so slightly on rare sunlit moments.

I crave to see how much I can slow down, how much I can let the mind wander and my body dictate the rhythms of my routines. I hope you’ve been safe and looked after or perhaps looking after loved ones yourself, taking care, and dreaming up the next growing season.

Myceliart Fungi Day back in October….

Only a few moons ago, did Sally and I organise another Fungi Day at the Three Hares Woodland. This time we had some beautiful contributions from Myceliart friends Ellen Forbes, who led a map drawing activity, Izzy McLeod, who ran a queer fungi foray and Lishan Rudder Zou, who blessed us with fungal tarot readings. Below you’ll find some pictures of the day — As per usual thank you to everyone for contributing! Unfortunately I was in a bit of a social exhaustion dip (+pain and getting over a cold) so it made for a slightly dazed existence that day …

For those of you unfamiliar with Myceliart, it’s a collaborative network of artists drawing inspiration from fungi. I’m a co-founder along with Ruby Scott-Geddes and Sally Somerville-Woodiwis, who have both ran some lovely workshops at the All Things Fungi event the past two years. We try to organise semi-regular community events to creatively engage with the fungal world and offer LGBTQIA+ safe spaces for exploring nature.

Follow Myceliart Collective on Instagram to hear about future events ꩜

Queer Foraging Walk x Rhyze Mushrooms

On the note of queer fungi events ~ I thought I’d share some pictures from a recent wintery foray with Rhyze Mushrooms. This is the beginning of what we hope to make a regularly occurring set of forays to learn together about fungi in all their magical and whimsical queer ways. This one took place at Cammo Estate, a fungi rich greenspace with lots to explore! I recon we’ll be back here in a few months time with another foray.

I love seeing how many fungi a group discovers. To an extent each walk is a complete surprise and delight, even though I do always check for fungi we may find before and walks. This foray, we spoke about mycology as a queer discipline and some exciting ways it has inspired grassroots organising. The group shared some birch polypore & turkey tail mushroom tea and learned about their medicinal folk uses.

Follow Rhyze Mushrooms for any other upcoming walks.

By the way, they’ve also just released an AMAZING Mushroom Alchemy online course on mushroom cultivation, which I highly recommend. They’ve been working on it for many many months and it’s just so beautiful to see it out there in the world.

Hope to see some of you at future forays!

❋ Next one upcoming on the 8th Feb 2025! Sign up here ✷

In the Gardens: Story of an allotment unfolding…

I’ve been looking forward to sharing the wonderful news that I’ve got an allotment! I’ve known for quite a while now— in fact, I received the news the same day I got a call about Gorgie City Farm closing.

[Perhaps you read my last letter about the farm I used to work at, if you didn’t and would like to read it, you can find it here.]

We (friend family & previous farm garden volunteers) have been slowly working away on our rather messy allotment site. Apparently it has a bit of a wobbly history of being used as a skip of some sort… which means, lots of broken glass, a lot of random objects (some more useful than others) and a whole lot of work to do! I’ve been filming and photographing some of the progress we’ve made so far, I know it doesn’t look like much, but oh am I glad it’s finally starting to look a bit like a garden.

I’ll be updating you on allotment happenings throughout the year, what we’re working on and how the place is taking shape. It’s so wonderful to be able to continue our own little garden community feeling ~ Subscribe to my YouTube for an upcoming allotment video vlog! :~)

Reflections on a Residency / Botanical Illustration

End October to early November I had the incredible privilege to go on my very first funded artist residency. If you’re based in Scotland looking for a peaceful place to rest awhile or organise a creative residency do check out Black Isle Permaculture Arts.

It was perfectly autumnal, a bit rainy at times. My favourite experience was the silence and getting to explore the surrounding woodlands. Clive and Julie, who run the residency, are also very kind and what they’ve done to the place is inspirational.

During the residency I stumbled my way back to some botanical illustration and creative small works inspired by Hildegard von Bingen. I wrote on queer ecology, reflected on fungi and let the fungi inspire my day to day.

Some small part of me had hoped that perhaps the little haunted creature of chronic pain would let me rest awhile. Alas, I fear it is much harder to manage in a new place, while simultaneously in a place of grief. Anyway, I am sure you can understand why it took me a while to revisit the footage and notes of this trip. I do hope to return to run a little workshop with this in mind :~)

Foraging: Velvet Shank ✳︎

Ahh the winter fungi! They are out in full bloom ~ I’ve been finding many delightful little velvet shank clusters. They fill my coat pockets as I make my way home to cook mushroom dishes.

Velvet shanks are quite common here, their little orange caps not to be confused with the [deadly poisonous] funeral bell. Finding velvet shank in freezing conditions is a fantastic way to distinguish them though, as their poisonous lookalike would not survive the cold.

I adore their Latin name Flammulina velutipes, meaning ‘flame’ and ‘velvety’. Their stems are indeed a little velvety and their bright orange makes them appear as if on fire.

Velvet shanks are the same as enoki mushrooms, which look different only because they are cultivated in dark conditions!

Anyway have a little read over the Wild Foods UK website to find out how to positively ID these delightful winter mushrooms.

Herbology Studies

I’ve been having the most wonderful time with my Herbology studies at the Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. It’s quite full on and my brain is often buzzing for days after each class. I thought I’d share my most recent essay about medicinal fungi & lichen with you. You can download it below: